Apparatus and method for playing a card game

ABSTRACT

A method is disclosed for playing a virtual card game on a computer with one or more players. The method involves providing a central processing unit programmed to define a virtual deck of cards and a predefined set of game criteria which a given hand must achieve in order to win. The computer allows a plurality of hands of cards to be drawn from the deck and determines if any players have achieved a win. A betting value is also established for each hand and players can repeat, optionally be betting, drawing cards from the deck until at least one hand achieves a win.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to an apparatus and method for playing a cardgame.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Card games are a very popular form of entertainment and are sometimesplayed for money by players known as gamblers or “punters”. Cards mayalso be played for social relaxation purposes.

There are a number of card games which can be played for money, andexamples of these games include bridge, poker, blackjack and euchre.Typically such games are often played with five or six people.

Card games played for monetary gain are often played through regulatedgambling organisations, such as in licensed casinos. However, in recentyears with the emergence of the Internet, a number of web sites havebeen developed which facilitate the ability for punters to gamble online.

Additionally, gambling with card games, can also be facilitated usingmachines which are provided with computer chips that simulate “virtual”card games such as poker, on a display. Such devices are knowncolloquially as “pokie” machines.

Pokie machines allow a punter to wager money by inserting money into aslot provided in the machine, afterwhich the punter then pushes a buttonto randomly draw a hand of virtual cards. If the draw is a winningcombination of cards, then the punter receives money from the machine,otherwise the money wager is kept by the machine.

Pokie machines usually does not allow the player to have an option tochoose which of a range of different hands, they would like to wagermoney on and hence such machines do not test a punter's ability toestimate which combination of cards is likely to generate a win.

The applicant does not concede that the prior art discussed in thisspecification forms part of the common general knowledge in the art atthe priority date of this application.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide a virtual card game that mayprovide an enjoyable playing experience to one or more players.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method for playing a virtual card game on a computer, with one or moreplayers, the method including the steps of:

(A) providing a central processing unit having;

(i) means to define a virtual deck of cards:

(ii) means to set up a series of quality combinations according to apredefined set of game criteria which a given hand must achieve in orderto win, each hand comprising a predetermined number of cards;

(iii) means to deal from the deck, a plurality of hands of cards;

(iv) means to determine whether any hand has achieved a qualitycombination, and if not, assessing for each hand, which cards in thathand best assist the hand in achieving one or more of said qualitycombinations;

(v) means to discard from each hand, the cards which do not assist inachieving one of the said quality combinations;

(vi) means to establish a betting value for each hand based on thelikelihood of that hand achieving a said quality combination when thediscarded cards are replaced with new cards from the deck;

(vii) means to replace the discarded cards for each hand;

(B) providing at least one display device connected to the centralprocessing unit for displaying the plurality of hands to one or more ofthe players;

wherein, the steps (iii) to (vii) are repeated by the central processingunit until at least one hand achieves a quality combination.

Advantageously the method includes a further step of providing a betinput means connected to the central processing unit, for allowing theplayers to input a bet based on the betting value of one or more of thehands.

Optionally, a win based on the betting value is paid to those playerswhich bet on the hand which achieves the highest value of these handswhich achieve a quality combination, and in which the bets for the otherhands collected from the players. In such an embodiment, the bet inputmeans may be a display board having areas marked thereon, whichrepresent each of the hands and on which a value of money can be placed.

A win based on the betting value may be paid to those players which beton the hand which achieves a highest value of the plurality of handsbased upon the quality combinations. The bets for the other hands may becollected from the players.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is providedan apparatus for playing a virtual card game with one or more players,the apparatus including:

(A) a central processing unit having;

(i) means to define a virtual deck of cards;

(ii) means to set up a series of quality combinations according to apredefined set of game criteria which a given hand must achieve in orderto win, each hand comprising a predetermined number of cards;

(iii) means to deal from the deck, a plurality of hands of cards;

(iv) means to determine whether any hand has achieved a qualitycombination, and if not, assessing for each hand, which cards in thathand, best assist the hand in achieving one or more of said qualitycombinations;

(v) means to discard from each hand, the cards which do not assist inachieving one of the said quality combinations;

(vi) means to establish a betting value for each hand based on thelikelihood of that hand achieving a said quality combination when thediscarded cards are replaced with new cards from the deck;

(vii) means to replace the discarded cards for each hand;

(B) at least one display device connected to the central processing unitfor displaying the plurality of hands to one or more of the players;

wherein, the means (iii) to (vii) are repeated by the central processingunit until at least one hand achieves a quality combination.

Advantageously the apparatus may include a bet input means connected tothe central processing unit, for allowing the players to input a betbased on the betting value of one or more of the hands.

Optionally a win based on the betting value is paid to those playerswhich bet on the hand which achieves the highest value of the pluralityhands which achieve a quality combination, and in which the bets for theother hands collected from the players.

One or more players may be able to view the plurality of hands fromtheir own display device which may be may be connected to the centralprocessing unit via a computer network such as the Internet.

Preferably the discarded cards are returned to the deck prior to thedeck betting value for each hand being established. The cards in thedeck are preferably shuffled, that is, the portion of the cards in thedeck is randomised, prior to cards being drawn from the deck at anystage.

The win may be calculated by multiplying the bet by the betting value.

The bets collected for the hands which do not win can be kept by a gamefacilitator. If however, there were no bets made by a player for thewinning hand, then all bets are kept by the game facilitator.

A value of money may be used to place the bet, such as cash or moneytokens, but could equally be a numerical value which may or may not berepresentative of actual money.

Advantageously the deck of cards consists of a visual representation ofa pack of 52 playing cards of the type 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Jack,Queen, King, and Ace and being of the following suites: spades, clubs,diamonds and hearts. The deck may comprise a plurality of such packs.

Advantageously the quality combinations for a particular hand includesany one of the following:

(1) any five cards in sequence and defined as a “straight”

(2) any five cards of the same suit and defined as a “flush”

(3) any five cards sequence of the same suit and defined as a “straightflush”

(4) three cards of the same kind and a pair and defined as a “fullhouse”

(5) four cards of the same kind and defined as “four of a kind”

In a preferred embodiment, an Ace is not recognised as a one in a handof cards, hence there is no straight set for a hand of cards comprising:Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Preferably there are 2 to 8 hands for which a random selection ofvirtual cards is made at (iii). More preferably there are 6 hands forwhich a random selection of virtual cards is made at (iii).

Preferably each hand consists of five playing cards so that the game isclosely akin to poker.

The display device would typically be a computer monitor, televisionscreen or gaming machine display, a display on a mobile phone utilisinga mobile phone browser or a PDA screen.

The bet input means may be a keyboard connected to the computer for theinput of data, or it may be a button located on the cover of a gamingmachine which represents a value of a bet.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of thepresent invention, preferred forms of the invention will now bedescribed, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIGS. 1-4, 6, 8-9, and 11-12 illustrate a screen display showing thevarious stages of a game being played in a preferred embodiment;

FIGS. 5, 7 and 10 show computer generated tables of data used tocalculate the betting odds for each hand during a game according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 13 illustrates a system for generating the screen displays of FIGS.1-4, 6, 8-9 and 11-12; and

FIG. 14 is an illustration of the steps involved in implementing thesystem of FIG. 13.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

A preferred embodiment provides an apparatus for playing a virtual cardgame with one or more players. The apparatus includes a centralprocessing unit (CPU) which has an application program programmed todefine a virtual deck of cards. The application program has software toset up a series of quality combinations according to a predefined set ofgame criteria which a given hand from the virtual deck of cards, mustachieve in order to win. Each hand includes a predetermined number ofcards.

The application program allows a plurality of hands of cards to be dealtfrom the deck and after the hands have been dealt, determines whetherany hand has achieved a quality combination, and if not, the applicationprogram assesses for each hand, which cards in that hand best assist thehand in achieving one or more of the quality combinations.

The application program then discards from each hand, the cards which donot assist in the particular hand in achieving one of the said qualitycombinations, and establishes a betting value for each hand based on thelikelihood of that hand achieving a quality combination when thediscarded cards are replaced with new cards from the deck. Theapplication program replaces the discarded cards for each hand.

A display device is connected to the central processing unit via theInternet for displaying the plurality of hands to one or more players.

The application program enabled by the CPU, permits the repetition ofdealing each hand; discarding each hand unwanted cards according to thequality criteria and replacing it with fresh cards from the pack untilat least one hand achieves a quality combination.

A bet input means is also connected to the CPU to allow the players toinput a bet based on the betting value of one or more of the hands and awin based on the betting value is paid to those players which bet on thehand which achieves the highest value of the plurality hands whichachieve a quality combination, and in which the bets for the other handscollected from the players.

Referring now to FIG. 1, there is shown a graphic display for a playingcard game run by the application program 32(refer to FIG. 13) located ona computer 34, before the cards are dealt in a card game of poker.

In this example of the invention, the display is split into six discreetregions (labelled as “Hand1, Hand2, . . . Hand6”) and shown as regions12A-F. Each of the regions 12A-F are provided to display a hand of 5cards each, which are dealt from a pack of 52 playing cards.

The 52 playing cards consist of 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen,King, and Ace, being of the following suites: clubs, hearts, spades anddiamonds.

The regions 14A-F are located adjacent to the regions 12A-Frespectively, and they are provided to display the betting odd value ofeach hand 1 to 6, which is calculated by a central processing unitwithin a computer (not shown).

Each hand of six cards is drawn from the 52 playing cards when a playerclicks on the “Deal” icon 16 with the pointer of their mouse. The Dealicon 16 activates an application program held within the memory or a ROMchip of the computer, which randomly selects six hands from the 52playing cards and displays each of the hands at each respective region12A-F.

Below the Deal icon 16 is the “Discard” icon 18 which discards theparticular cards from each hand according to a predefined set of ruleswithin the computer. (as will be described below), after the cards havebeen Dealt and displayed in each of the display regions 12.

A reset icon 20 is located below the Discard icon 18, and is used by agame facilitator or player who wishes to restart a new game and clearthe cards from the hand display region 12.

Below the reset icon 20 is a “Current History” icon 26 which shows thehistory of each hand during each deal which is made during the cardgame, in addition to an “Exit” icon 28 positioned at the bottom righthand corner of the display, which may be selected by a player or gamefacilitator to terminate the game.

Now referring to FIG. 2, there is shown on the display button screen 10,six hands 12A-F, which have been drawn from the playing cards after agame facilitator has selected the Deal icon 16.

The game facilitator or a player then selects the Discard icon 18 andthe screen changes to the screen showing in FIG. 3.

It can be seen that the software program has kept cards according to theset of predefined rules.

During each discarding step, those cards are discarded which do notcontribute to a predefined level of quality for each hand. In thisregard, for the game of the present invention, the requisite level ofquality for a particular hand includes any one of the followingcombinations:

(1) any five cards in a sequence and defined as a “straight”, such as asequence of cards, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8;

(2) any five cards of the same suit and defined as a “flush”, such asfor example 3 of Clubs, 7 of Clubs, 10 of Clubs, Jack of Clubs, Queen ofClubs.

(3) any five cards sequence of the same suit as defined as a “straightflush”, such as for example 8 of Hearts, 9 of Hearts, 10 of Hearts, Jackof Hearts, Queen of Hearts.

(4) any three cards of the same kind and a pair and defined as a “fullhouse”, such as 10, 10, 10, 2, 2 or

(5) four cards of the same kind as defined “as four of a kind”, such as,6, 6, 6, 6.

Hence, the rules of the discarding step are defined within theapplication program such that for any hand, those cards will bediscarded which do not assist a hand in reaching one of the requisitelevels of quality. Furthermore, where there are no cards held in a handwhich assist in the hand reaching the requisite level of quality, thehighest value card types are kept.

The cards types are valued in increasing order as: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace.

In this regard, referring to FIG. 3, it can be seen that the pair ofQueens in hand I are kept while the other cards have been discarded.

For hand2, the pair of 3s are kept and cards 2, 5 and 9 are discarded.

There are no pairs drawn in hand3, so the Ace of spades, being thehighest valued type of card from the original hand drawn in hand 3 iskept and card types 2, 6, 9 and Queen are discarded.

A pair of 4s are kept in hand4 and a 5, Ace and Jack is discarded.

A King is kept in hand 5 being the highest card from the set of cardsdrawn in hand 5 and the cards 5, 6, 7 and 8 which are show in hand6, arekept as they may be a possible straight.

As can be seen on FIG. 3 each of the betting odd value regions 14A-Fdisplay an odd value calculated by the application program, according toa betting odd value method which shall be explained below.

Usually, when the game is being played using a personal computer, theinput means is provided in the form of a keyboard (not shown), in whichthe players of the game submit a wager on one or more of the hands1-6,displayed to the players and for which they would like to place a wager.This information is then stored within the memory of the computer, whichstores a record of the identity of the player and the amount he/she iswagering on the particular hand1-6.

The player or game facilitator then selects the Deal icon 18 and a newset of cards are then displayed on the screen as shown in FIG. 4. Afterwhich, the game facilitator then selects the Discard icon 18 whichdiscards the unwanted cards in accordance with the discarding criteriawhich will be described below and a new hand of cards is then shown inFIG. 6.

The players of the game are able to make further wagers on each of thehands according to the new odds calculated and shown in the betting oddvalue region 14. Again, the players wagers can be input via a keyboard(not shown) connected to the computer, and this information is thenstored within the memory of the computer as described above.

The method described above is then repeated as shown in FIG. 8, in whichnew cards are dealt when the Deal icon 16 is selected by a player orgame facilitator. The Discard icon 18 is then selected and a new resultof cards is shown in FIG. 9.

Again, the method is repeated and a new set of cards is generated asshown in FIG. 11 after which the Discard icon 18 is selected and theremaining cards (together with the betting odd values), are shown inFIG. 12.

However, it will be seen in FIG. 12 that the odds in the betting oddvalue region is not shown as the game has finished as there has been awinning hand shown in hand 5 which shows five cards of the same suit,namely diamonds and a flush has resulted. Therefore, hand5 has reachedthe requisite level of quality defined for the game.

Those players which have placed a wager on hand 5 at any stage of thegame, shall be paid a “win” according to the calculated betting oddvalue at the time they placed a wager.

As the winning hand is hand, any player's wager which has been placed onhand 5 during the game, will then be paid out according to the oddsshown in FIGS. 3, 6 and 9, at the stage of the game at which they madetheir wager. Hence, it is possible for a number of wagers to be placedfor each of the hands.

The particular calculations used for this embodiment of the game willnow be described.

FIGS. 5, 7, and 10 show tables of values for each hand drawn in FIGS. 3,6 and 9 respectively.

For an explanation of how these values are calculated, reference is madeto the values calculated in FIG. 5, hand 1.

Hand1 has one pair (being a pair of Queens). When the Deal icon 16 isselected, there shall be three cards dealt to hand1 and this is definedin the table of FIG. 5 under the column “shots”, which equals ‘3’.

The availability of having another pair of Queens is defined as “avail”and is equal to ‘2’, this being Queen of spades or Queen of Clubs whichare to be placed back in the deck of cards once the cards have beendiscarded from the step of FIG. 4.

Next a weighted “formula” is calculated, being an estimated weightedvalue of availability, that of cards that remain in the of deck cards.The formula value is calculated from the following equation:$\begin{matrix}{{Formula} = {{shots} \times {avail} \times 4}} \\{= {3 \times 2 \times 4}} \\{= 24}\end{matrix}$

The “4” in the above equation is a scaling factor which has beenestimated.

Next the “bonus”, “penalty’ and “score” values are calculated from atable of values shown in Table 1 below.

TABLE 1 Bonus & Penalty Values Single 1 Pair Avail of Three = No ActionAvail of Two = No Bonus Avail of Two = Bonus 10 Avail of One = Bonus 4Avail of One = Bonus 21 Avail of None = Bonus 17 Avail of None = Bonus33 3 of a Kind Two Pairs Avail of One = No Action Avail of Four = Bonus50 Avail of None = Penalty 25 Avail of Three = Bonus 29 Double EndedStraight Avail of Two = Bonus 6 Avail of Eight = Bonus 127 Avail of One= Penalty 4 Avail of Seven = Bonus 105 Avail of None = Penalty 45 Availof Six = Bonus 83 Inside Straight Avail of Five = Bonus 61 Avail of Four= Bonus 15 Avail of Four = Bonus 38 Avail of Three = Bonus 8 Avail ofThree = Bonus 13 Avail of Two = No Bonus Avail of Two = No Bonus Availof One = Penalty 15 Avail of One = Penalty 25 Avail of None = Penalty 25Avail of None = Penalty 35 Flush/Double Ended Straight FlushAvailSeventeen = Bon325 AvailSixteen = Bon303 AvailFifteen = Bon282AvailFourteen = Bon259 AvailThirteen = Bon237 AvailTwelve = Bon215AvailEleven = Bon193 AvailTen = Bon171 AvailNine = Bon149 AvailEight =Bon127 AvailSeven = Bon105 AvailSix = Bon83 AvailFive = Bon61 AvailFour= Bon38 AvailThree = Bon13 AvailTwo = No Bon AvailOne = Pen25 AvailNone= Pen35

From the values assigned for each of the hands, the “chances” value foreach hand is calculated according to the following formula:

Chances=Formula+Bonus+Score−Penalty

Calculating the value of the “chances” for hand1 is as follows:$\begin{matrix}{{Chances}_{hand1} = {24 + 0 + 30 - 0}} \\{= 54}\end{matrix}$

Next the rating for hand1 is calculated according to the followingformula: $\begin{matrix}{{Rating}_{hand1} = {{Chances}_{hand1}/\left( {{total}\quad {number}\quad {of}\quad {available}\quad {cards}\quad {in}\quad {deck}} \right)}} \\{= {54/40}} \\{= 1.35}\end{matrix}$

Next after the rating has been calculated for each of the hands thetotal rating is calculated by summing each of the ratings for each hand1 to 6: $\begin{matrix}{{Rating}_{total} = \quad {{Rating}_{hand1} + {Rating}_{hand2} + {Rating}_{hand3} +}} \\{\quad {{Rating}_{hand4} + {Rating}_{hand5} + {Rating}_{hand6}}} \\{= \quad {1.35 + 1.35 + 1.35 + 1.325 + 1.35 + 1.325 + 3.725}} \\{= \quad 10.425}\end{matrix}$

Now the odds are calculated according to the following formula:$\begin{matrix}{{Odds}_{hand1} = {\left( {{Rating}_{hand1}/{Rating}_{total}} \right) \times 100 \times 1.25}} \\{= {{1.35/10.425} \times 100 \times 1.25}} \\{= {16.2\quad \left( {{as}\quad a\quad {percentage}} \right)}}\end{matrix}$

Rounding this to a betting ratio is:

The 1.25 is a factor which has been added into the calculations to givethe game facilitator a “market” which is really a buffer factor toensure that a positive return is given to the game facilitator duringthe game.

It should be realised that although the above calculations have beencalculated according to waiting factors and have been derived from aniterative process by the inventor of the present invention, calculationof the betting odd value may be calculated statistically.

Referring now to FIG. 13, there is shown a schematic illustration anInternet-based system 30 for implementing the embodiment describedabove. In this system, the computer 34 has a CPU 36 for processing data,a Database 38 for storage of information and the Application program 32which has the software to drive the embodiment described above.

The data display shown in FIGS. 1-4, 6, 8-9, and 11-12 is stored on thecomputer 34 in a HTML format and is accessible from an Internet webbrowser. The computer 34 is connected via the Internet to a plurality ofclier computers 40 which can download the HTML data for FIGS. 1-4, 6,8-9, and 11-12 and display them on their Internet browser located ontheir computer 40.

Any number of game players may log on to a web site operated by the gamefacilitator who operates computer 34. The client computer 40 users canmake their wagers electronically through a credit card payment systemvia the.

FIG. 14 is a schematic illustration of the steps involved inimplementing the method for the embodiment described above andimplemented on the system 30.

Additionally, it should be realised that the invention may be embodiedin a device other than a personal computer, such as in a gaming machine(ie a pokie machine).

In yet another embodiment of the invention, the game facilitator may bean employee of a casino and the hands are shown on a monitor to a groupof players. The players would place their bets on a betting table whichhas areas marked thereon which represent each of the hands on which theplayers could place their bets. Such embodiments will be apparent tothose skilled in the art.

An advantage of the embodiment is that any number of players can place awager on a selection of hands during each “deal” of cards which is madeduring the game. Hence, this provides the player with a skill componentin estimating which hand is the likely hand to win the game. The gamemay also be provide an enjoyable and challenging experience to certainplayers.

It would be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that numerousvariations and/or modifications may be made to the present invention asshown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit orscope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments aretherefore, to be considered in all respects to be illustrative and notrestrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of playing a card game on a computerwith one or more players, the method comprising: (A) providing a centralprocessing unit programmed to perform the following steps: (i) define avirtual deck of cards; (ii) set up a series of quality combinationsaccording to a predefined set of game criteria which a given hand mustachieve in order to win, each hand comprising a predetermined number ofcards; (iii) deal from the deck, a plurality of hands of cards; (iv)determine whether any hand has achieved a quality combination, and, ifnot, assessing for each hand which cards in that hand best assist thehand in achieving one or more of said quality combinations; (v) discardfrom each hand, the cards which do not assist in achieving one of thesaid quality combinations; (vi) establish a betting value for each handbased on the likelihood of that hand achieving a said qualitycombination when the discarded cards are placed with the new cards fromthe deck; (vii) replace the discarded cards for each hand; (B) providingat least one display device connected to the central processing unit fordisplaying the plurality of hands to one or more of the players; whereinthe steps (iii) to (vii) are repeated by the central processing unituntil at least one hand achieves a quality combination.
 2. A method asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the method includes a further step of:(viii) providing a bet input means connected to the central processingunit, for allowing the players to input a bet based on the betting valueof one or more of the hands.
 3. A method as claimed in claim 2, whereinthe method includes the further step of: (ix) payment of a win based onthe betting value to those players which bet on the hand which achievesthe highest value of these hands which achieve a quality combination,and in which the bets for the other hands are collected from theplayers.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 2, wherein the bet input meansis a display board having areas marked thereon, which represent each ofthe hands and on which a value of money can be placed.
 5. A method asclaimed in claim 3, wherein a win based on the betting value is paid tothose players which bet on the hand which achieves a highest value ofthe plurality of hands based upon the quality combinations.
 6. A methodas claimed in claim 5, wherein the bets for the other hands arecollected from the other players and paid to the winning hand.
 7. Anapparatus for playing a virtual card game with one or more players, theapparatus including: (A) a central processing unit having; (i) means todefine a virtual deck of cards; (ii) means to set up a series of qualitycombinations according to a predefined set of game criteria which agiven hand must achieve in order to win, each hand comprising apredetermined number of cards; (iii) means to deal from the deck, aplurality of hands of cards; (iv) means to determine whether any handhas achieved a quality combination, and if not, assessing for each hand,which cards in that hand, best assist the hand in achieving one or moreof said quality combinations; (v) means to discard from each hand, thecards which do not assist in achieving one of the said qualitycombinations; (vi) means to establish a betting value for each handbased on the likelihood of that hand achieving a said qualitycombination when the discarded cards are replaced with new cards fromthe deck; (vii) means to replace the discarded cards for each hand; (B)at least one display device connected to the central processing unit fordisplaying the plurality of hands to one or more of the players;wherein, the means (iii) to (vii) are repeated by the central processingunit until at least one hand achieves a quality combination.
 8. Anapparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the apparatus includes a betinput means connected to the central processing unit to allow theplayers to input a bet based on the betting value of one or more of thehands.
 9. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein a win based on thebetting value is paid to those players which bet on the hand whichachieves the highest value of the plurality hands which achieve aquality combination.
 10. An apparatus as claimed in claim 9, wherein thebets for the other hands are collected from the players and paid to thewining hand.
 11. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein saidplayers view the plurality of hands from their own display device. 12.An apparatus as claimed in claim 11, wherein each player's displaydevice is connected by a client computer which can access the centralprocessing unit via a computer network.
 13. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 12, wherein the computer network is the Internet.
 14. An apparatusas claimed in claim 7, wherein said display device is located on agaming machine.
 15. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein thediscarded cards are returned to the deck prior to the deck betting valuefor each hand being established.
 16. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7,wherein the cards in the deck are randomised prior to cards being drawnfrom the deck at any stage.
 17. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7,wherein payment of the winning hand is calculated by multiplying the betby the betting value.
 18. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, whereinthe bets collected for the hands which do not win are kept by a gamefacilitator.
 19. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein when nobets are made by a player for the winning hand, then all bets are keptby the game facilitator.
 20. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, whereinthe deck of cards consists of a visual representation of a pack of 52playing cards of the type 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, Jack, Queen, King, and Aceand being of the following suites: spades, clubs, diamonds and hearts.21. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the quality combinationsfor a particular hand includes any one of the following: (1) any fivecards in sequence and defined as a “straight” (2) any five cards of thesame suit and defined as a “flush” (3) any five cards sequence of thesame suit and defined as a “straight flush” (4) three cards of the samekind and a pair and defined as a “full house” (5) four cards of the samekind and defined as “four of a kind”.
 22. An apparatus as claimed inclaim 7, wherein there are 2 to 8 hands for which a selection of virtualcards is made at (iii).
 23. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, whereinthere are 6 hands for which a random selection of virtual cards is madeat (iii).
 24. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein each handconsists of five playing cards.
 25. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7,wherein the display device is a mobile phone utilising a mobile phonebrowser which displays information generated by the central processingunit.
 26. An apparatus as claimed in claim 7, wherein the display deviceis a PDA screen which displays data generated by the central processingunit.
 27. An apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein the bet inputmeans is a button located on the cover of a gaming machine whichrepresents a value of a bet.